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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28204470">Five (Grumpy) Old Men and a Baby</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilkillerpoptarts/pseuds/evilkillerpoptarts'>evilkillerpoptarts</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>It's Always Midday on Florrum [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Accidental Baby Acquisition, Gen, Podfic Welcome, Shebnanigans, Shebse gonna shebse, Slice of Life, Squad Shebs, Star Wars AU - Soft Wars, What's On The Chip, brothers being brothers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 23:55:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>798</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28204470</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilkillerpoptarts/pseuds/evilkillerpoptarts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Exactly what it says on the tin.  Five brothers trying their best to just hang out.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>It's Always Midday on Florrum [9]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1812385</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>123</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Open Source Soft Wars, Soft Wars Fic Exchange</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Five (Grumpy) Old Men and a Baby</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Papook/gifts">Papook</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For Papook, for the Soft Wars Holiday fic exchange!  Courtesy of the broadest prompt I have ever seen, lol.</p><p>As always, thanks to Shira, Tessa, and Wander for betaing and General Rampant Enabling, and to Projie for letting me play in the Soft Wars sandbox!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What’s that?” Bly asked, glancing up from his sabacc hand as Rex returned to Wolffe’s porch, the rest of squad Shebs turning to look at the inquiry.</p><p> </p><p>Rex glanced down at the drink he’d just grabbed out of the cooler, squinting at the label.  “Uh, I think it’s from Corellia-”</p><p> </p><p>“Not the beer,” Wolffe grumped, vaguely gesturing with his knitting.  What he was making was still a mystery, but it was coming along nicely,  the muted grey color scheme softening the Wolfpack motif slowly appearing under the needles.  “The other thing.”</p><p> </p><p>Rex glanced at his other arm.  “Oh, that?  It’s a baby.”</p><p> </p><p>Bly sighed. “I can see it’s a <i>baby,</i>” he said with all the patience he could muster, given the chaos around them.  “Whose is it?”</p><p> </p><p>Rex shrugged, reclaiming his chair.  “Dunno.”</p><p> </p><p>“What do you mean, you don’t know.”</p><p> </p><p>“It was crying so I picked it up,” Rex said smartly, tapping Cody in the arm with his drink in a silent request for the bottle opener.  “It’s asleep, now.”</p><p> </p><p>Ponds made a quietly outraged noise.  “Rex you can’t just take someone’s baby-”</p><p> </p><p>“You’ve been on Corellia too long,” Bly reminded him.  “It’s fine, it’s at a picnic.”</p><p> </p><p>“There are a couple hundred people here.”</p><p> </p><p>“And I’m sure its parents will ask around and someone will have seen Rex making off with it,” Cody said firmly to end the conversation.  He popped the cap off of Rex’s beer and settled more firmly into Rex’s shadow.  The fewer people noticed him, the better.  He’d <i>retired</i>, dammit, not that it ever mattered.  The second he showed his face in public suddenly Everything Is His Problem again.  Maybe just this once he could get through a public event without being yanked into someone else’s issues.</p><p> </p><p>“You,” Wolffe called gruffly at a wide-eyed child that froze at the shout.  “Out of the garden!”  The kid fled and Wolffe sighed, shaking his head.  “Littles these days,” he grumbled as he returned to his knitting.  “No karking sense.”</p><p> </p><p>“Language,” Ponds scolded. “There’s a baby.”</p><p> </p><p>“Speaking of,” Cody said, seeing one of his frequent headaches walking in their direction.  “Let me borrow that.”  He stole the baby before Rex had a chance to protest and had time to arrange it comfortably in his arms before Luke appeared, clearly on a mission.</p><p> </p><p>“Leia needs you to-”</p><p> </p><p>“Can’t, the baby’s asleep,” Cody replied mildly.  He’d been ducking Skywalker twins all day and wasn’t going to stop now.  Luke frowned but left without argument, and was barely out of earshot before Bly was frantically taking the baby for himself as a group of Littles walked up to try and cajole him into a game.</p><p> </p><p>“Stars, can’t do it, not today,” he said, relieved when they left and wincing when Wolffe bellowed at them to <i>also</i> get out of the garden.</p><p> </p><p>“Well if everyone else gets to hold it,” Ponds grumbled, liberating the baby from Bly.</p><p> </p><p>“Would everyone stop passing it around before it wakes up?” Rex complained.</p><p> </p><p>“Wolffe, you want to hold it?”</p><p> </p><p>Wolffe snorted, barely glancing up from his knitting, which was starting to take shape as a baby blanket.  “Why would I want to hold it?”</p><p> </p><p>Ponds shrugged.  “Your loss.”</p><p> </p><p>“So <i>that’s</i> where it went.”  Doom stomped up to the porch, snatching the baby from Ponds.</p><p> </p><p>“Is it yours?” Cody couldn’t remember Doom being in any way connected to a new baby, but these days everyone had grandchildren and nieces and nephews aplenty.</p><p> </p><p>“No, I’ve just been looking for it since <i>someone</i> decided to walk off with it.”</p><p> </p><p>“It was crying,” Rex pointed out.  Doom rolled his eyes and walked off, at least in the correct direction to be returned to the stroller where Rex had found it.</p><p> </p><p>“Doom just stole our baby,” Ponds complained.</p><p> </p><p>“As you were so quick to point out, it wasn’t ours,” Rex said.</p><p> </p><p>“Probably not his, either.”  With their tiny visitor gone, they were able to return to their card game in relative peace.</p><p> </p><p>...For all of five minutes, anyway.</p><p> </p><p>“YOU.” All heads shot up to see one Leia Naberrie-Skywalker pointing at Cody.</p><p> </p><p>“Look, I’m just trying to play cards with my brothers,” Cody protested as all five-feet-nothing of Leia barged into his space and grabbed him by the arm.</p><p> </p><p>“I’ve needed you this WHOLE time-”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m retired,” Cody tried again.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s cute that you think that.”</p><p> </p><p>Cody gave up with a sigh and reluctantly stood.  “Fine.  Fine, I’m coming.  This had better be important.”  Leia frog-marched him down the path, an amused-looking Doom leaning against a tree, still holding the baby.  Leia slipped him a couple credits as they passed.  Cody spluttered.</p><p> </p><p>“You paid Doom to steal a baby!”</p><p> </p><p>“It was already stolen, he’s going to return it,” Leia replied, mild as milk.  “Now shut up and help with this.”</p>
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